Editor's Notes

Welcome to West Coast Online

BABBA originated in the San Francisco Bay area.
Our distribution now includes Arizona, California,
Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, Oregon, and the
state of Washington. We changed our name to West
Coast Online to reflect expanding distribution.

For those unfamiliar with us, we are not the same old type
of computer/BBS/online magazine. We cover topics in a refreshingly
straightforward way. And we're never shy about giving our opinions...

You may have picked up WCO at a new distribution site.
Welcome. WCOs go fast - subscribe to avoid missing any issues.

Page 4 had ads for The Professor's DeskTop POP and IBBS West.

Questions Letters Comments

Q: I bought a modem that came with software and I just
can't make it work. What should I do? (S.B. San Ramon, CA)

A: After reading the instructions in your modem and software
manuals, you have some other options (in no particular
order):

Ask for advice at the store where you purchased the modem.

Check the return policy - the modem or software might be defective.

Ask for assistance from the modem or software manufacturer.

Find a friend to help you.

Pay someone to set up your modem.

Buy or borrow a book.

Join a user group to get help.

C: When I logged onto your BBS, my old communication
software only lets my 14,400 bps modem connect at 9,600 bps,
but your BBS said the connection was 38,400 bps. (J.B.
San Jose)

A: You must tell your modem program to communicate at a
speed of (at least) 19,200 bps. Each computer almost always
should talk to its modem faster than the modems talk to
each other. Check your modem manual for information about
locking the serial port rate, and hardware flow control.

On our BBS, the PC talks to our external 14,400 bps modems at
38,400 bps. If we set our software to talk to the modems at
9600, the modem would only talk at 9600. That's what probably
happened in your case.

C: I keep having trouble uploading to your BBS, but not
others. (many readers)

A: We had an old serial card that was "flaking out". Thanks
for letting us know. We replaced two serial cards (and an
IDE card) with a Quickpath Portfolio
(www.quickpath.com) card,
which fixed all the problems.

Q: I want to make a batch file to take the modem off-hook
after I run my communications program. How can I send
commands to the modem from a batch file? (G.R. Bellingham,WA)

A: You can put an echo ATH1 > COM2 in your batch file. This
also works from the command prompt. Another example is
echo ATM0 > COM1, or echo +++ATZ > COM1. (On some
modems, you must send a +++ before any AT commands.)

Another
alternative is to use a utility program to send commands to
the modem. ATSEND, by Joseph Sheppard, can be found on
local BBSs. If your batch file calls another program or
batch file, you may need to use the CALL command. CALL
will return control to the first batch file after the called
batch file or program has completed.

Q: Why is issue 1 so expensive ($12)? Also, is the
Modems Made Easy book available in bookstores? (D.M.
Martinez)

A: Supply and demand. We had only a few copies left of our
charter issue, so the price was $12. We found more, so we
have lowered the price to $10. As a service to our readers,
we sell the Modems Made Easy book, see page 10. It is also
available in bookstores.

Q: I cannot upload messages while editing a BBS message. I
select Zmodem and when I upload text, it fails. (B.H. San
Jose)

Q: Someone uploaded to my BBS a picture depicting
bestiality. I deleted it immediately, but wonder, is such a
picture illegal? (initials withheld upon request)

A: Our staff does not include lawyers, police, or judges, so
we can only share our personal opinions with you. Our best
guess is that such picture files are illegal.

The Supreme
Court has ruled that illegal information/pictures are
defined by local standards, without ruling on the
definition of what "local" is. We think it likely that some
community may attempt to extend their standards beyond
pornography. Be wary of the thought police.

Clearly, there
are First - and Second - Amendment issues here. As repugnant
and boring as those kind of pictures would be to us, we don't
believe pictures of anything should be illegal. E.g., a
picture of a murder is not a murder.

Food for thought:
It is legal to kill animals for food or sport.
If you were an animal, would you rather have intimate
relations with a human or be killed by one?

C: When callers learn that a teenager runs a BBS, they
usually think the worst. Some think they can log in with a
fake account and leave rude messages, and the Sysop won't
care because he/she is a teenager. Most teenage Sysops are
diligent and responsible. We want to be treated as normal
Sysops. (J.L. Los Altos)

A: First, why do your callers know you are a teenager? Do
you post your age on your welcome screen? The quality of a
person does not depend on age. As a Sysop, you deal with a
faceless public, and will meet all types of people online.
Develop friendships with your courteous callers, and ignore
the occasional rude visitor. Here's a bit of advice for
dealing with rude visitors: Never wrestle with pigs. You
get dirty, and the pigs love it.

Q: Rather than having to install a switch, I want to turn
off my PC speaker with a software program. Do you know of
such a program? (M.S. San Jose)

A: Perhaps a small
TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) stand-alone utility
program could do this. Anyone who knows of such a utility
(or can write such a program) please contact us.

Page 5 had ads for the
Liberty (www.liberty.com),
Party Wherehouse, and the Home Buyer's Fair BBSs.

"BABBA BITS"

Hot serial card

GTEK (www.gtek.com)
has a new 4-port serial board with unique features
that should interest all multinode Sysops.
The Blackboard-4 has 16550 UARTs, and IRQ
choices of 2-5, 6, 10, 11, 12, and 15.
Uniquely, it supports serial port speeds up to 460,800
bps on all 4 ports - perfect for today's 28.8 kbps modems and beyond.

The Blackboard-4 has a unique watchdog circuit to
detect crashes. Upon a "lock up", the board performs
a hardware reset.

Finally, Sysops can go on vacation without the fear of
the BBS locking up the moment they back out of their driveway.
The Blackboard retails for $295 and includes a 4-foot
10-conductor DB-25 cable.

Best of Breed Books

The Zen of Code Optimization
(Coriolis
[www.coriolis.com]
Group Books, $39.95)
by Michael Abrash, is a well-written book that is
more than a primer on code optimization.
It gives both clear-cut tutorials and insights on
the nuances of assembly, C, and C++ coding.

Intel-based microprocessor hardware considerations
are covered with just the right amount of detail.
The book includes a disk of mostly ASM source files.
The average file size is small - some may prefer
to type the examples in.

This book falls into the rare category of being very
technical and very readable. Most chapters start
with a human interest story that somehow gets
linked to the theme of the chapter.
An interesting addition to your library, this book
will not replace any of your
other programming books - but it might make you
a better programmer.
Available at computer bookstores or
from the publisher.

The alliance between RISC-based PowerPC chip
manufacturers and big-name companies should not be
underestimated.
Inside the PowerPC Revolution (Coriolis
[www.coriolis.com]
Group Books, $24.95),
by Jeff Duntemann and Ron Pronk, clearly explains why.

In this easy to read and entertaining book, the authors explain
Apple's (www.apple.com)
leading role in the PowerPC market, and the role
of other major computer, operating system, and chip companies.
If you are curious about the PowerPC, or want an overview
of the computers of today and tomorrow, you can't go wrong
with this book. Available at computer bookstores or
from the publisher.

The Bay Area
Sysop Alliance (BASA)

BASA holds monthly meetings for Sysops and
active users of online services. The meetings
are open to the public.
Every meeting has a guest speaker. Questions
from the attendees of the meetings help guide
the discussions.

The meetings start at 7 PM, and last for one to two hours.
There are no fees to attend the meetings, except that
(where applicable) ordering food or drink from the
restaurant is appreciated. The meetings are nonsmoking.

This month, the guest speakers will be Stuart Rosenbaum from
Cardservice International
(www.cardsvc.com)
and Ron Stein, president of
Media Tech Innovations. They will discuss
the requirements, procedures, and costs of getting
a merchant credit card account for an online
service or a small business.

Sunnyvale:
Roy Batchelor is the meeting facilitator.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday July 12, at
Vito's Pizza, 1155 Reed Avenue (500 feet from Lawrence Expressway).

Walnut Creek:
Jeff Hunter is the meeting facilitator.
The next meeting will be on Thursday duly 14,
at Papagottso's Pizza, 1995 North Main Street,
(corner of North Main and Ygnacio, one block
from the BART station).

Through the Glass, Darkly

There is a lot of dark fiber optic cabling out there, but soon
it will be lit up, transmitting gigabits per second and carrying
digitized voice, speech, data, and images around the California
metro areas.
Recently, the Japanese reported a 10Gbps fiber transmission.
The potential of fiber is more like one Tbps (that's one trillion bits
per second).

The Englishman, John Tyndall, demonstrated the principle of light
guides in 1870. He showed that light could be bent around a corner
as it traveled in a medium. The medium was water.
In his demonstration, he showed that when water was poured
out of a spout, with a light beam aimed through it, the light followed
a zigzag path inside the curving path of water as it flowed.
A similar zigzagging occurs inside the core of a fiber optic cable.

Fiber Optic Cables

How does a fiber optic cable work? It's made of fused silica or
very high quality glass with an index of refraction between that
of air and diamonds. Refraction affects the speed of light through
material.
The speed of light changes as it bounces and travels in different
directions. The width of the inner core of commonly used multimode
fibers is 62.5 microns. A micron is one-millionth of a meter
(about .00004 inches). That's small, but capable of carrying
a very broad range of frequencies.

Details

The signal source (carrying the information) injected into the fiber
core is usually a LED (Light Emitting Diode) or a laser. Lasers are
used for long-hauls and for more reliable data transfer. Many
foreign and domestic companies (e.g., AT&T, 3M, AMP) make fiber,
connectors, tools, and test instruments for fiber.
The signal must be injected into the fiber core at a specific angle.
The waves are controlled inside the core by the physics related to
reflection and refraction.

Light changes speed and direction when it meets a boundary or a
change in material. Infrared light waves (wavelengths from 850 to
1550 nanometers) are reflected along the fiber core.
Surrounding the fiber optic core is the cladding, consisting of special
glass manufactured with a slightly different (about 1-2%) index of
refraction. This small change in boundary refraction causes the
light to remain inside the core, and controls its speed. Many modes
(or "channels") can exist in the core at the same time.
Surrounding the cladding is a buffer material of plastic,
KevlarTMfibers, and an outer jacket.

Fiber Optic Advantages

The bandwidth of POTS (plain-old-telephone-systems)
used to be less than 4 kilohertz. Because telephone systems
are becoming digitized, voice lines may now use up to 64 kilohertz
of bandwidth. The 500 MHz bandwidth of fiber channels
economically provide a large capacity.

In addition to its ability to carry many signals, fiber cable is very
light. It takes eight tons of copper cable to match the capability
of 160 pounds of fiber.
Fiber does not rust, is difficult to "tap" (wiretap or snoop),
and is immune to ground
loops and electromagnetic interference. Signal loss is minimal - and
the light source can still be effective after losing 99.9%
of its original power.

Home Town Wiring

Pacific Bell is installing fiber throughout the South Bay.
Fiber is installed underground - the cable is laid in a bed of
sand and gravel, protected by a heavy, outer sheath lined with
a material affectionately known as "icky-pik". The primary threat
to fiber is the rodent population that gnaws on anything they
find in their underground kingdom.

Schools teaching fiber optics in the area are: Information Technology
Center; The Light Brigade
(www.lightbrigade.com);
and Fibertron
(www.fibertron.com).
Contact them for
more information concerning fiber optics training and certification.

Page 6 had an ad for Bill Lauer & Associates.

Setting up a Windows BBS
(A lesson in humility)

(By Chris Toth Sysop of Mr. Natural's BBS)

When I was looking for BBS software, I wanted what every Sysop wants -
everything, at a price that would fit my budget.
I needed a package with "Front Door" compatibility (a program that
allows the BBS to transfer FIDO-style mail), support for multiple nodes,
RIP graphics, and Internet mail. I needed an excellent mail system with
a full-screen editor and QWK mail support. I also required group chat,
support for CD-ROM drives, and door drop (configuration) files.

PowerBBS (PBBS), written by Russell Frey, is an elegant Windows-based
BBS package that meets all of my requirements.
PowerBBS's Internet support includes uudecoding software.
The menu system is unique, allowing the user to either hit hot keys
to jump from function to function, or use arrow keys in a convincing
simulation of pull down menus. These are just some of the functions
guaranteed to delight any Sysop. Software this good has got to
have a catch, and PBBS does, it runs as a true Windows application!

Setting up PBBS was simple. In less than an hour I had an
out-of-the-box BBS ready to receive calls.
Being a true Windows application, PBBS runs fast.

3 Versions

There are three versions of PBBS software: shareware,
registered, and the professional version. The registered
version and the shareware version are the same.
The Sysop is expected to register the shareware version
after a reasonable trial period. The professional version
includes the source code.
The shareware version is not crippled and the manual
text is included in the ZIP file. This let me verify that it
would do what I wanted before purchasing it.

FIDO and Front Door
(Never Plug-And-Play!)

As a FIDO Sysop, my first task was to get Front Door up and
running. Front Door is difficult to set up with a BBS, and the PBBS
documentation did not help.
The PBBS documentation for installing and using Front Door is
inaccurate and incomplete. If I had not already had a lot of
experience with Front Door, I might have quit PBBS right there.

It took me several days, but with the help of another PowerBBS
Sysop, I finally got it up and running with Front Door. The author
of PBBS is working on a new front end mailer that will eliminate
the need for using Front Door. After I could send and receive my
FIDO mail, I was hooked, and registered the professional version.

Internet (Rarely Plug-And-Play)

After receiving the professional version, I immediately started
to set up PBBS for multiple nodes. I set up an account on an
Internet server for the BBS. I ran into some trouble getting the
Internet mail to import properly.

After much trial and error, I succeeded in getting the system to
import and export Internet mail. I was never able to get PBBS to
import the Internet mail from node 2. I finally tried setting up the
Internet event on node 1, and it immediately started tossing, packing,
sending, and receiving Internet mail from my server. I have not
had any major problems with it since.

Windows Headaches

Windows is a hated word among Sysops. Windows is famous for
unexplained lockups, mysterious COM port problems, and being soooo
slow. I used to take pride in the statement "I don't do Windows".
Most serious Sysops running a multinode BBS use a LAN, Desqview,
or a combination of both. PowerBBS is so good that I learned to
"do" Windows.

Up to this point, I had been running the system on two nodes and
planned to expand the system to four nodes. I wanted to avoid the
hassle of IRQ conflicts, and the expense of a multiple IRQ-sharing
communications board, so I setup a Local Area Network.
My network software is WebCorp v4.03. It is supposed to be
100% Novell Netware compatible and support all standard
IPX/SPX drivers.

Getting the network to work was the most difficult part for me.
I am very familiar with networks, but my ignorance of Windows
really slowed the process. I got a crash course in General Protection
Faults.
GPFs occur when Windows runs two pieces of software that each
want a piece of the same memory pie. Like a fed-up mom, Windows
dumps the problem back into your lap and says "you handle it!"
(Then it promptly crashes.)

Microsoft support provides little help for those suffering from GPFs.
The Windows manual doesn't even mention them. None of the
files I downloaded from the Microsoft support BBS helped.
When I left a message on the PBBS support BBS about this,
the response was "This is a very difficult problem and it may take
you some time to fix it."

It took me almost a week to figure out how to get the system to work.
However, many of the external programs such as door games still
continued to crash. It took three more weeks of torture before
I finally was able to get the system to run reliably. Of course,
it will take even more time to finish customizing my BBS.

The GPF problems I was experiencing had nothing to do with
PBBS. Most problems were due to conflicts between Windows
and the network software I was running. If Windows came with
documentation that listed error messages, had a real
troubleshooting chapter, and described all the possible
commands available for the SYSTEM.INI, it would have
saved me days of grief. (See the next article, "Windows
Communication Tips")

Is PBBS for You?

If you are not experienced with setting up a BBS,
yet you want it to do "everything" right out of the box,
then maybe you should look for a simpler BBS package
such as Wildcat!, VBBS, or The Major BBS.

If you are a Sysop who wants a very powerful Windows-based
BBS, that will process Internet mail and allow you to multitask
your PC, to do work while running a BBS, then PBBS is for you.
PBBS is not quite the turnkey system it professes to be - though
the major problems I ran into were related to Windows. Dealing
with finicky Windows software typically causes problems and
heartaches.

The PBBS manual is well-written but lacks important information
and examples in key areas. The manual is being completely rewritten
and will be available for the next release.
PBBS support is enthusiastic and they usually reply within
24 hours. However, they seem to have been overwhelmed
by the interest in their software. It can be difficult to get through
to the support BBS. You may find yourself calling the four-line
support BBS at 3:00 AM, just to get through.

PBBS's problems are solvable, and having a BBS that does
just about everything is worth a little sweat. PBBS really
does just about everything!
Watching the first bundles of Internet mail and newsgroups
get tossed and placed into my mail areas made all
the work worth it. Whether or not you want to admit it,
Windows may be the future of bulletin board software.

PowerBBS is shareware, and at the time of this article,
the registration cost is
$99 for the regular version and $189 for the
professional version. Look for the file name PBBS*.ZIP on
BBSs, the product support BBS at 516-822-7396
(www.powwwerworkgroup.com).

Windows Communication Tips

There are many ways to tweak Windows to run
smoother with communication programs. Here are a few suggestions to
help Windows work with communication programs:

If you have an external modem, upgrade your
serial port UART to a 16550.

If you experience random general protection
faults when using a LAN to run DOS applications on
a remote work station, try putting the following into your
SYSTEM.INI file: InDosPolling=True
This tells Windows to stop trying to control memory
that DOS already is using.

Another tip for running a LAN and Windows together
is to run SHARE wide open. This is an example of a line
from my AUTOEXEC.BAT file:
C:\DOS\SHARE /L:500 /F:4096

If you are running a BBS under Windows,
disable disk-caching when the system is writing
to a disk, to prevent corruption of your files. To stop
Smartdrive from caching during disk writes, add this to
your autoexec.bat: SMARTDRV.EXE C

If you have troubles getting a door program to work
under Windows, try adding the following to your system.ini:
ComBoostTime=6

If you have a fast modem and wish to
increase the maximum baud rate from the
Windows default of 19200, change the following
statement in your WIN.INI file from: COM#=19200,n,8,1
to COM#=57600,n,8,1
where the # is the number of the port
you wish to change.

You can use communication "fossil" drivers inside Windows.
From the port menu in the control panel, tell Windows not to
use any flow control. If you are using a locked baud rate higher
than 19200, you must also edit your WIN.INI.

Page 8 had ads for RGB Monitor Repair,
and the Tiger Team,
Monterey Gaming System, and the Auto-PC BBSs.

Mac and Back

(By Ross Bernhiem)

The Macintosh computer is different from other
types of computers in a number of ways that can
cause problems communicating with non-Macintosh
systems. Most of the problems are easily solved if you are aware of them.

CR/LF in ASCII files

As with other non-IBM PC computers, the Macintosh uses a
carriage return to signal the end of a line and start the next line.
Older computers require both a carriage return and a line feed
to do the same job. (The carriage return/line feed combination
comes from the mechanical teletype machines used in the early
computer days. Later model computers, including PC-type
computers, have kept it for compatibility and it has became a
de-facto standard.)

When online in terminal mode, most Mac communication
programs automatically compensate. When you type a message
online, the program adds the line feed to the carriage return sent
to the other machine, and strips it off when receiving.

Problems occur when you read text from files you've downloaded.
In your Mac text editor/word processor, the linefeed shows up
as a rectangle in the left margin because linefeeds are not
automatically removed during the file transfer. After downloading
a text file from a PC-based BBS to your Mac, you should use a
utility to remove the line feed from each carriage return in the file.
Before uploading text files from your Mac to a PC-based BBS,
you can use the same utility to add linefeeds. If you upload
frequently to a PC-based BBS, you might request the Sysop
run a utility to add the missing linefeeds on their end.

File Names or FILENMES

The Macintosh file-naming system allows long names and
characters that other computers don't allow. For instance,
Microsoft DOS restricts file names to eight alphanumeric
characters and a period followed by three characters, with no
spaces allowed. DOS file names do not use the asterisk, slash,
or back-slash characters.
Most Mac terminal programs allow a file to be temporary renamed
before an upload.
If not, you must rename the file to follow DOS rules.

Batch Transfers

Not all batch file-transfer protocols (BP)
are the same and not all implementations of Zmodem
are created equal.
Zmodem is a common BP having automatic start-up and
file naming features, support for multiple file transfers,
error correction, and resumption of failed partial transfers.
One feature of Zmodem (and other BPs) can present a
"gotcha" when transferring files to a non-Macintosh system.
Zmodem sends the name of each file to the receiving computer
so it can put the proper name on the file.

BPs use the file name as it exists on your computer,
not the name that you type when the remote computer
asks for a file name. The remote computer may not
allow the Mac file name to file transfer.
While BPs such as Zmodem can automatically truncate a
long file name to an acceptable DOS length, not all implementations do so.

Batch Protocol Solutions

If you have trouble uploading files from your Mac to a
PC using Zmodem, try these remedies:

Use a nonbatching file transfer protocol such as Xmodem,
(forgoing speed and other features).

Rename the file (or copy it) on your
system, giving it a name compatible with
the computer you are sending the file to.

Inside Mac Files

The Macintosh is graphical, and the Mac file system makes
special accommodations. On the Mac, all text is stored as
graphic information, so the Macintosh stores not only the text,
but also additional information about how to display it (such as
the font, size, and text style).

The Macintosh file system stores files in two parts (called forks),
a resource fork and a data fork. This makes many tasks easier,
such as localization or programs for different countries or alphabets.
When transferring Macintosh files, they must be made compatible
with the file storage systems on the other computers, which do not
split each file in two parts.

MacBinary

MacBinary is a Mac program built into many communications
programs that encodes Mac files into a single file, compatible
with other computer file systems. That single file can be
downloaded and decoded by other Macintosh computers.
Be sure you have MacBinary enabled in your application.
Another way to solve the dual-fork problem is to use a file
compression utility such as Stuffit Deluxe.

Other Mac programs handle ZIP and other archive formats
used by DOS computers, but the only time you are likely to
need this is when transferring QWK mail packets or archived files
with DOS machines.

MacBinary Headers

When you enable MacBinary, Mac communication software
adds a header to the file before the upload occurs. The header
describes the file's type and creator codes and other information
to prepare it for storage on a remote system.
When a Mac telecom program downloads such a file, MacBinary
uses the header to recreate the file with all of its original attributes.

If that header is absent, the file will usually appear with a default
type (usually TEXT) and creator, determined by the telecom
program. Some Mac utilities can supply the missing file information,
and some Mac programs can look at the data in the file to determine
what its file attributes should be.
You typically cannot open a text file downloaded from a
PC-based BBS by double clicking it (Open it with
SimpleText, TeachText, or better yet,
a word processing program.)

Use MacBinary?

If you want non-Mac users to be able to use Mac data files
without difficulty, disable MacBinary in your telecom program
before uploading the file. This will upload only the data fork and
omit the MacBinary header.
Before transferring text files, save them as ASCII (or text-only).
Do not use MacBinary! Exceptions are if the target DOS machines
have programs that can use Mac files directly.

When sending Macintosh files to a PC-based BBS for use on another
Macintosh, use MacBinary to encode the file for storage on the
non-Macintosh computer. Be sure to note this is a Macintosh-only
file when you write the file description on the BBS.
Food for thought: If the program that reads your file cannot use the extra
formatting information saved in it, the recipient will have to spend a lot of
time and effort to remove it.

Finally, the QWK mail packets used by many BBSs for offline
mail readers should be transferred without using MacBinary.
Follow the archive format used by the DOS computer. Most
QWK mail readers for the Mac will either do this directly, or
come with the needed program.